He explained that the amendment applies primarily to searches and seizures by law enforcement, not civilians. A credit card company, in theory, could reserve the right to visit your home or office without a court order, Kann said.

But he emphasized that there are laws against harassment, not to mention stalking, and Cap One could be held accountable under such statutes if, say, it took to inviting itself over for dinner or hanging around your cubicle.

"We may modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose."

Now that's just freaky. Cap One is saying it can trick you into picking up the phone by using what looks like a local number or masquerading as something it's not, such as Save the Puppies or a similarly friendly-seeming bogus organization.

This is known as spoofing, and it's perfectly legal. As I've written before, the federal Truth in Caller ID Act makes it a crime to use a phony number or caller ID message to commit fraud or cause harm to others.

But it's not against the law to engage in what courts have called "non-harmful spoofing," which includes businesses wearing digital disguises to penetrate a consumer's phone defenses.

Such corporate spoofing is employed primarily by telemarketers. It's weird, to say the least, for this practice to be so publicly adopted by a major credit card issuer.

Emily Rusch, executive director of the California Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, said it's especially troubling for Cap One to declare itself a spoofer as people grapple with recent security breaches involving Target, Neiman Marcus and other businesses.

"Now more than ever, consumers need to be able to trust companies," she said."

IMO, the only reason for a "visit" is due to "serious" non-payment...no other reason is warranted.

Re: Capital One can visit home/work place

It's important to note that the Capital One language doesn't grant the company any rights it doesn't already have. Anyone can knock on your door. This isn't unconstitutional or illegal. Think of Cap One as a vacuum cleaner salesman. Anyone who wants can try to knock on your front door. In fact, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that door-to-door solicitation is basically a form of protected commercial free speech. Municipalities often have rules designed to curtail solicitation, but it's generally unclear how these rules would hold up to a challenge in federal court.

It's interesting to note that other nations have taken an alternative tack. In Australia, residents can put up "Do Not Knock" signs, and shoo away salespeople, who face stiff penalties for ignoring them. On the other hand, American door-to-door professionals will tell you that folks with "no soliciting" signs on the front door make the best targets, as they are identifying themselves as bad at saying no.

Of course, just because someone knocks doesn't mean you have to answer. As is your right with the phone, you can just let them knock, or you can tell whoever it is to leave and never come back. Returning, or refusing to leave, would probably constitute criminal trespass.

Rules governing solicitation on commercial property (that is, at your place of employment) are a little less clear. But suffice to say it's very hard for large businesses, such as malls, to kick out solicitors.

More important, however, are consumers' rights regarding debt collection, which are made abundantly clear in the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. No one -- not Capital One or anyone else -- can call you and demand payment during unusual hours. If you tell collectors to stop calling, they have to stop calling, or you can win a pretty easy judgment against them for $1,000 per violation.

You may have heard there is language in our customer agreements stating we could potentially make “personal visits” to our customers.

As much as we would like to get to know each of our customers better, we don’t visit our customers at their homes or workplaces to discuss their credit card debt—ever. We never will and apologize if we ever made you think we might.

And if we need to call you—rest assured—we will never claim to be anyone other than Capital One when we make those phone calls.

Finally, we are reviewing our customer agreements to ensure we use language that more clearly represents our intentions. We can do better.

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